“Do you really believe me? Do you actually believe that Ririna’s innocent?” After postponing Ririna’s sentence, Flanne took me to an office in the barracks so we could talk more. She called me an important witness, so she needs to hear what I have to say. That’s the official explanation, but it doesn’t reflect the whole picture.

“It’s not that I believe she’s innocent—I know she’s innocent. I knew that from the very beginning.”

“Then… why…?” She’s so cold. How could she even arrest Ririna if she was innocent? Weren’t they friends? She even went as far as sentencing her to death. Why? It makes no sense.

“I had no other choice!” Her loud voice makes me jump. Flanne looks at me before continuing. “I’m sure you’ve already realized, but I’m not an ordinary soldier. I have other responsibilities. One of which is making important decisions during times of crisis to maintain peace. I had to give Ririna the death sentence to prevent a riot.”

“A riot?” Was the situation that bad? I knew the town was angry with Ririna, but that’s a bit too much…

“The townsfolk started to panic when they saw their crops being destroyed and the town surrounded by hordes of monsters. In reality, the monsters are only interested in the special dirt Ririna made. They’re not gonna attack the town, so there’s nothing to worry about. The loss of crops is not a big deal since the growth caused by Ririna more than makes up for any losses. We need to wait for reinforcements so we can clear the monsters, and the people don’t want to wait. Everything’s going to be fine, but they can’t grasp the situation, so they end up panicking. I had to make a decision before they turned on us. I had to make them think we were on their side by playing into their anger. Even if that meant sacrificing someone.”

“No way… Then Ririna was just used as a scapegoat.”

“I had no other choice. I wanted to protect her, but we couldn’t find any evidence.” Flanne had been working hard. She had bags under her eyes. Did she spend this whole time trying to find a way to bail out Ririna?

“What about the merchant? He’s the one who gave Ririna the recipe. It’s all his fault. Weren’t you able to find anything about him?”

“No… That was the first thing Ririna said, so I had everyone look for any traces of him. But there was nothing. All traces of his existence have completely vanished. To tell you the truth, it sounds like the work of demons. I suspect that Armand fellow is somehow connected to the demons, and that’s why all evidence is gone.”

“Demons?” Is she talking about the same demons from when I got the VISS Driver? I hope they’re not looking for me.

“That’s right. They’re becoming more active over the entire human territory as well as here, in the kingdom of Ebrilyon. This must be another one of their appearances…”

“What are they trying to accomplish by… well, with this whole thing?” I know from the game that humans and demons don’t really get along, but it’s not like they were at war… At the very least, they’re not at war right now, so what are they doing?

“I’m not sure… We don’t have any information on them. It probably has something to do with the Savior in Azcester.” Savior is another name for the hero, the protagonist of the game. I don’t want to get involved with the main story of the game… Why is she bringing up things related to the hero? I’m not looking to get killed by anything that’s meant for the hero.

“But forget about the demons for now, Iroha. I want to thank you for what you’ve done.”

“What did I do?” What’s Flanne talking about? I haven’t done anything…

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“You gave me the opportunity to annul Ririna’s sentence. The townsfolk were angry with Ririna, but you stepped up and contested the sentence. You confused the people by bringing up other names, and I was able to direct the anger away from Ririna. It’s all thanks to you. You bought us time before people started to riot, and that’s exactly what I needed to be able to protect Ririna. I really made a mistake… I should have looked for you yesterday! We could have avoided this whole mess if I had gotten your testimony then!” Flanne gritted her teeth in frustration. Yesterday? That’s when Sarasa first told me about what was going on.

“At least now, I can save Ririna. It’s not a perfect solution, but she won’t have to die anymore.” Flanne had taken a weight off her shoulders.

“Really? That’s good news!” Seems like my involvement may actually lead to something good.

“Yeah, Ririna’s gonna be fine. If only we had found any kind of evidence yesterday. We could have framed Ririna as the victim and claimed that she was used by someone else. It’s so dumb. All of this could have been avoided…” Is she serious? Then, if I hadn’t gone home yesterday…

“Ririna is staying in one of the cells here, so let’s go there, Iroha. I’ll tell you what my plan is when we’re talking to her. I hope you don’t mind this outcome.” Flanne stood up and walked out of the office. I quickly followed after her. As long as Ririna’s safe, I don’t mind.

We went down into the basement and made our way through mostly empty cells. The barracks is not a prison, and people are only held here temporarily. “Ririna!” Ririna sat on a bed inside a clean cell. Her condition is fine, though she seems kinda down. While I ran up to the bars, Flanne took out some keys and started fiddling with the door.

“Iroha…? What’s going on? What are you doing here?” Ririna’s reaction was slow. She got up from the bed and approached the bars, getting more and more dynamic as she got closer. “Did something happen? Wasn’t a decision made already? No… I get it… You’re just here to keep me company before the end. Thank you, Iroha.”

“No no! Were here to save you!”

“Huh…? Are you serious?” Ririna couldn’t believe what she heard and turned her head to Flanne for confirmation.

“That’s right. There’s a way to get you out of here, and it’s all thanks to Iroha.” Flanne opens the door, and Ririna steps out of the cell.

“It was you, Iroha? Even Flanne said she had her hands tied. What did you do?” Ririna excitedly got close to me.

“Even I’m not completely sure… I just believed you wouldn’t do anything bad like that. So when Flanne was announcing your sentence, I said you were innocent. Flanne ended up doing the rest.” We explained the rest of the story to Ririna, since there was a lot she wasn’t able to keep up with while locked up.

“So what's gonna happen now? Was it alright for you to vouch for me, Iroha? Isn’t that gonna cause trouble for you? I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me. Are you sure it was a good idea?” Now that she’s saying it, that was pretty dumb. Still, I can’t believe Ririna’s worried about me right now instead of worrying about herself.

“I think it’s fine. As long as I am able to help you, I guess it’s fine… But… Flanne hasn’t told me what her plan is yet, so it depends…”

“Well, I’ve got some good and bad news. The bad news is that you and Ririna are now connected. If we can’t prove Ririna’s innocence, you’re gonna be labeled as an accomplice, Iroha, and you’re gonna get the same sentence as her…” Wait! What?!

“Are you saying I’m gonna be executed!?” I can’t believe this! Why? It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

“Wait! Iroha, you’re not gonna get executed, both you and Ririna are fine.” Are we? Really? Why scare me like that? “I can arrange an opportunity for you two to prove your innocence. If you defeat all the monsters surrounding the town within a week, there will be no doubt that you two didn’t mean any harm.”

“That's impossible. Theres are hundreds of monsters out there. Even if I had time to prepare, I wouldn’t be able to make anything capable of killing that many monsters.” Ririna immediately pointed out the problem with Flanne’s offer.

It’s impossible? Have I been set up? I just wanted to save Ririna, I didn’t know I could end up getting sentenced too! I have to get out of here. With my skills, maybe I can escape. I don't care about this world, I can just run away.

“Wait, don’t panic.” Flanne noticed how I was feeling. “I know it’s nearly impossible for the two of you to solve this problem on your own, but that’s fine. During this next week, you two are gonna be allowed to do whatever you want to defeat the monsters. The most important part is that you’re gonna be on your own. There’s not gonna be anyone supervising you, so if you decide to run away, there’s very little we can do to stop you.”

Eh? Running away? I see… I guess that can work… The biggest problem Flanne had was finding a justification to let Ririna outside. This must be what she was aiming for from the very beginning. Though the townsfolk are going to direct their anger at her instead.

“You would be unable to come back to this town, and you’d have to stay low for a while. But you two don’t live in this town, so you’re going to be just fine as long as you stay away.”

Hmm… I guess that’s fine. I can still come to this world to train, and at least Ririna’s not gonna die. It's gonna complicate things a little, but I'll be fine. Whew… Don’t scare me like that… I was ready to give up on everything.

“So, Iroha and I are innocent if the monsters are dead… And we’re not going to have any soldiers following us… I see. Thank you, Flanne.” Ririna was thinking hard about something. This is a big shock to her, so she’s gonna need a moment to process what’s going on.

“The two of you should get out of here for now. I have to announce this new decision, and then I have to reopen the investigation into Armand. Try to keep your face hidden while you’re in public. The townsfolk are going to know you’re working to help solve the problem, so it should be fine. But there may be some who are angry enough to still go after you, Ririna. Be careful.”

“I understand… Thank you.”

Flanne got us some cloaks, and the two of us left the town. How did things turn out like this? Wasn’t there a better way to do this? At least neither of us is going to die… Not from a crime we didn’t commit. If we want to ever go back into the town, we have to kill the hordes of monsters attracted by Ririna’s magic dirt. How many monsters are there, really? Is it truly impossible? Whatever the case, we have a lot to talk about.